Planning to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Northfleet. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Northfleet should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Defining your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease permit a right of way over an accessway or hallways?

Are pets allowed in the flat?

You need to be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Northfleet please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Northfleet

I have just started marketing my basement flat in Northfleet.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a half-yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Northfleet both have approximately forty five years remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Northfleet is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the premises. For most purchasers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Northfleet conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £375000 flat in Northfleet on Monday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Northfleet?

Northfleet conveyancing on leasehold flats normally results in administration charges levied by managing agents :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Northfleet
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Northfleet leasehold premises is £350. For Northfleet conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide answers.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Northfleet what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Northfleet is not unique. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, Coventry Building Society, and TSB all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Northfleet Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

The prefered form of lease structure is if the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this situation the lessees have control and even though a managing agent is usually employed if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Make sure you investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For example plenty of leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Northfleet. If you like the apartmentin Northfleet but your cat is not allowed to make the move with you then you have a very difficult compromise. Who is in charge of the block?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Northfleet